From October, business that use WhatsApp Business will start paying to reply to customers.
Starting October 1, 2026, those using WhatsApp Business will pay this fee.
MyBroadband indicates that the cost will be around 12c per message.
The charge will also apply when a support agent or chatbot replies to a customer within the 24-hour reply window.
So when you have chatbot auto-replies saying ‘Welcome!’, ‘Hi, how can we help?’, ‘We’re checking your request’, and ‘Your issue has been resolved,’ each message could count as a separate charge.”
Meta says this is just the utility rate, while the marketing rate is higher at R0.62 ($0.0379) per message. Service messages will follow the same rates as utility and authentication messages in each market, with the final October rates set to be confirmed by 1 September 2026.
Elsewhere in the world, the cost of sending these messages varies by country. In Nigeria, businesses pay around $0.0101 (about ₦14) per message, while Kenya charges about $0.0044 (roughly KSh0.57) and Egypt charges $0.0054 (around E£0.28).
